Dept. of Energy: Reject $182M Federal Loan Guarantee for IRG's Project That Includes Plastic Burning
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced a loan guarantee of up to $182 million of Inflation Reduction Act funds meant for climate solutions to a project that includes burning plastic waste.
The money has been conditionally promised for a yet-to-be constructed facility in Erie, Pennsylvania, that would accept 160,000 tons of plastic waste every year. According to the DOE announcement, the International Recycling Group facility would recycle some of the plastic and send the rest to replace coking coal in blast furnaces at an unnamed steel mill in northwest Indiana.
- This is not a climate solution because replacing coal with plastic is just substituting one form of fossil fuel for another.
- This is not a solution to our plastic pollution crisis because it does nothing to reduce plastic production and encourages the continued creation of new plastics.
- Burning plastic as a solution to managing waste is widely recognized as harmful to human health and our environment as it releases toxic chemicals and pollutants into the air. Breathing these pollutants in can contribute to many health problems. In addition, the facility would bring more diesel truck traffic through a low-income community and may create a new fire risk as plastic waste storage facilities are highly flammable.
Given that plastic recycling has been an abysmal failure (less than 6% of plastic waste in the U.S. is recycled, according to the Department of Energy's own data), it's unclear why the agency would choose to invest climate funds into plastics recycling, rather than technologies that directly reduce plastics, such as building reuse and refill infrastructure. Instead of backing a polluting, expensive plastic burning project, these taxpayer dollars would be much better spent investing in direct solutions to the interwoven climate change and plastics pollution crises.
Fill out the form to urge DOE Secretary Granholm to reject the loan guarantee now.
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To:
U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned, urge you not to approve the $182 million in federal loan guarantees for International Recycling Group's proposed facility in Erie, Pennsylvania, which promotes the false solutions of plastic recycling and plastic burning to solve the global plastic pollution crisis. These approaches are flawed and fail to address the root causes and environmental impacts associated with plastic waste for the following reasons:
Health Risks: Burning plastic in steel plants can release toxic pollutants known to cause a range of health problems for residents and workers. Further, burning plastic as a waste management strategy does nothing to reduce the harms to communities, the climate, and the environment caused by manufacturing plastics from fossil fuels.
Microplastics Pollution: Mechanical recycling facilities release microplastics which is a particular concern as the proposed IRG site is located just one mile from Lake Erie. Transport and storage of the “CleanRed” (flaked plastic waste) to northwest Indiana would also threaten the Great Lakes and Indiana Dunes National Park.
Environmental Justice: This facility would bring more heavy diesel trucks through a low-income neighborhood. It may also pose a fire safety hazard, as there are risks of fires when large amounts of plastics are stored. The “CleanRed” plastic waste product would be shipped to and burned in steel mills, generating air pollution in other communities that are likely to be environmental justice communities.
Misuse of Funds: Spending crucial climate change mitigation funds from the Inflation Reduction Act on plastic burning diverts resources from effective solutions like reducing plastic production, redesigning products and packaging to be plastic-free, investing in reuse and refill systems, and replacing plastic with materials that can be effectively recycled.
Therefore, we urge Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to:
1. Reject the proposed $182 million federal loan guarantee for International Recycling Group's Erie, Pennsylvania project.
2. Allocate these funds to projects that promote waste reduction, reuse, and innovation in plastic-free materials rather than perpetuating the flawed cycles of plastic recycling and burning, and/or fund geothermal or solar energy projects in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Please choose to put people over plastics and invest in true climate mitigation solutions.